Outlier is available in selected M&B pubs in the UK

Outlier is available in selected M&B pubs in the UK

Cidermaker Aspall has relaunched its Suffolk Blonde lager brand as 'Outlier'. 

The 5.2% beer, described as a “craft lager”, is intially being sold in draught at selected Mitchells & Butlers' Nicholson's and Village Pub & Kitchen outlets in the UK. Outlier is the same liquid as Suffolk Blonde, launched in November 2010. 

At a press briefing in London yesterday (9 April), Aspall's co-owner Henry Chevallier-Guild said the change was because Suffolk Blonde's branding “didn't reflect the liquid”. “We could not tell a story from it,” he said.  

Outlier, being made under Aspall's Chevallier Brewing Company badge, was chosen as a name because the feedback was that it was “not really a lager” and did not fit into the category, Chevallier-Guild said. The beer, still being made for Aspall by Shepherd Neame, is dry hoppped with Nelson Sauvin and Amarillo hops and a “touch of Cascade”. 

Chevallier-Guild also revealed ambitions to create more beers in the future and the possibility of buying a brewery. “It would be nice to think that in 15 years time we have the same kind status as we do now for cider,” he said.  

Last week, Aspall revealed it is cutting the abv of its pink cider brand Perronelle's Blush to 4% due to the UK Government's decision to keep its alcohol duty escalator in place for the category.